Study Shows Night Shift Work Disrupts Protein Rhythms, Increasing Diabetes Risk

The results of the study revealed that working night shifts for just three days had the potential to disrupt protein rhythms, thereby increasing the risk of diabetes.

Named Between from Medical Daily, Sunday (12/5/2024), researchers in a recent study from Washington State University and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory investigated how night shift workers are more prone to metabolic problems, taking a – including diabetes and obesity.

According to results published in the Journal of Proteome Research, even just a few days of working a night shift schedule disrupts protein rhythms related to blood glucose regulation, energy metabolism, and inflammation, processes that affect on the development of chronic metabolic conditions.

The researchers recruited volunteers who were kept on a simulated day or night shift schedule for three days. The participants were then awake for 24 hours after their last shift, under constant lighting, temperature, body position and food intake.

“This is to measure their internal biological rhythms without external influence,” the study said.

While the participants remained awake, blood samples were taken to identify proteins in blood-based immune system cells. Some of these proteins are closely related to the master biological clock.

“Because the main biological clock that keeps the body on a 24-hour rhythm against altered movement schedules, there are few changes to these proteins,” the research study said.

However, for most other proteins, such as those involved in glucose regulation, there were significant changes in rhythm among night shift participants compared to day shift participants.

The researchers noted that there was an almost complete reversal in the glucose rhythm in the night shift participants. Night shift participants lack synchronization in the processes involved in insulin production and sensitivity. These processes should work together to keep glucose levels within a healthy range.

This is caused by insulin regulation trying to remove the glucose changes caused by the night shift schedule, which may be a healthy response at the time, but is a problem in the long-term, the researchers explained.

“There are processes associated with the master biological clock in our brain that says night is day and night and other processes that follow established rhythms elsewhere in the body that saying that night is day and night. “When internal rhythms are irregular, you have chronic stress in your system that we believe affects long-term health,” said Hans Van Dongen, senior author of the study from the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine in a news release.

These findings suggest that early intervention makes it possible to prevent diabetes and obesity, which can also be applied to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke in children. – night shift work. (ant/bill/iss)